Sea and Seagull
by OveliaGirlHaditRight
Summary: After Kingdom Hearts III-when Sora and Kairi have been reunited for a while-the two of them talk of animals, like in saying what ones their friends would be... but in the heat, Kairi struggles with wanting what she thinks she shouldn't.


Kairi swam down to the sharks and petted them once... swam around and raced with them, and then spoke their language a few times before she came back up to the surface.

She had only just learned that her fellow Princesses of Heart had the ability to talk to woodland animals.

And while they had none of those on the Islands, she'd been curious to see if this ability would work with sea creatures if she tried hard enough... and it had.

And so Kairi had never been happier in her life.

The first thing she saw when she blinked the salt water out of her eyes, was Sora was sitting before her—as if he'd been sitting there the whole time, waiting. And maybe he had been.

Since this happened to be so very much like the day they'd met, Kairi found that she had to mention something that had, oddly enough, been on her mind since that day: And she did, as she crawled out of the water and set a level higher than Sora via a log laying there.

"I don't know why, Sora... But I keep imagining I should have a photo of you on a jet ski at my house. I don't know why!

"…But when you first found me, asking me who I was and where I came from, I imagined you should have been on one them—I just to better keep your small form from going out to sea… And every time you're at the edge of the water, I think that, in fact. And even in talking with sharks… I couldn't help thinking that they themselves arguably look like them. What's wrong with me?" Kairi laughed.

…And the look Sora had worn when he'd heard her about her ability to speak to animals didn't escape Kairi's notice. But it quickly faded away, when he must have remembered she was a Princess of Heart and what he'd seen them do.

"That kind of power seems like a fun thing to mess around with… And hey, there's nothing wrong with making comparisons! We all do some weird ones, sometimes," Sora said surprisingly, as he moved a sweaty spike from over his eyes.

And it left Kairi wondering if he was dreaming of having that kind of ability with Bambi, Dumbo, the dalmatians, and so many of the others…

Kairi could almost too easily see Sora having something akin to a school lecture, with them as her students. And it made the redhead giggle, in wondering if maybe he was really the heart of pure Light here.

And with all of this talk of animals inspiring her, as well as the scent of gulls' feathers on the wind, Kairi couldn't keep herself from mischievously asking: "What kind of animals do you think would get on the best with Riku?"

Sora opened his mouth once, twice, three times, before closing it again: He must have thought he'd found the answer thrice, only to then think better of it.

There was a long beat before Sora answered: His hand somehow found hers—bringing with it the feel of calluses and sand—and as the sky went from being pink to moreso red, Kairi couldn't help imagining a kid making a project with what was meant to be roses… Only to get impatient, and to stop mixing the red and whites together, only for this to be the result.

But that wasn't a bad thing. The color of hearts and loves was a beautiful thing, too, and when Kairi noted the blush staining Sora's cheeks and how he'd moreso opted for that shade of clothes again… She almost wanted to stand up with a hand over her heart and declare herself to his cause no matter what, when he soon began speaking beautifully.

"Uhh… Normally I'd say bat, since that was his main Dream Eater… And they have some traits in common. But I dunno… I don't fully agree with that, the way I don't think Rhyme should have been a Squirrel Noise. Err, more on that later… So, I don't know about Riku.

"But I can tell you Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka, Kai! Wakka is a woodpecker, because they can hit their 'head' numerous times and still mostly be okay. Like Wakka can be with a blitzball. Tidus is a tiger… Because he's all about speed? But I felt I woulda been to nice call him a cheetah, if I can't even be that… so tiger, it is. Plus, it sort of sounds like his name. And Selphie is…"

"A flamingo?" Kairi guessed, caring about this conversation but not completely so. Because with herself completely in Sora's arms now—with her back against his torso, and his arms wrapped around her waist—Kairi felt a sort of heady feeling begin to wash over her:

And it was it, more than anything, that told Kairi that they really weren't children anymore—after all they'd been through—and yet she still wanted to hold onto it some, so she did her best to hold onto it and humor Sora now.

And in fact, as pride settled into her heart at Sora's incredulous raised eyebrow at her choice, she found herself needing to defend her choice… even if she did end up doing so self-consciously. She was too good at being that now.

"Sorry, Sora. I just heard a story from one of the worlds' denizens, about how flamingos apparently scream like women… And someone actually thought they were people being murdered, apparently! But that's not the part that reminds me of Selphie! Gods, no! But I could see her screaming words via gossip to people, so that's why I think she'd be that?"

And just like that, Sora burst out laughing… It was a good kind of the sound: one that Kairi imagined could have come from any person playing these kinds of games with their friends in a normal life… Something that they hadn't had for years: And that was why it warmed Kairi's heart, to temporarily be this way again.

"I was going to say a hummingbird," Sora chuckled—as he dropped a kiss to Kairi's forehead, and she snuggled into him closer. "Since they're so busy pollenating flowers, and whatnot, and Selphie is a busy-body... But you know what? Your answer works too well, so I've casted my vote!"

With this loving praise she was now getting—something Kairi had wanted for a long time, in the days when Sora had taken her for granted. Though she never would have asked for it—Kairi very nearly told him what she herself saw as Tidus and Wakka as... but before she could, Sora's lips were on hers and Kairi felt everything else melting away.

Lips and teeth against each other—and even noses brushing—and even a bit of lips and teeth against neck, as they both accidentally fell backwards onto the sand beneath them…

How they'd gone so long without this, Kairi would never be able to tell.

They'd been young, yes, and innocently hadn't known what they felt for each other at the time. Which was gorgeous, in its own right, but Kairi also couldn't help feeling it had also been a bit silly on their parts now.

Because more and more these days, they lost out on being together—it was their fate, apparently—and it made the princess wish that she and Sora had been together in the time they'd actually been allotted it.

…Anyone who saw the pair of them now, might not have thought much of their self-control at all. But Kairi knew that she and Sora were still in a complete control of themselves.

So much so, that they were now sharing quick chaste kisses more than anything—and this was heaven on Earth for a Princess of Heart, and just the girl part of her that loved Sora—but Kairi couldn't help trying to figure if maybe she did want more…

Embarrassingly enough, Kairi thought it might have been the talk of animals that had emboldened her so.

And as two sharks jumped out of the water and then back into it again—effectively pulling Sora and Kairi away from each other, at the surprise of it—Kai deduced that the scent of her and Sor's blood might have helped to draw them here… Which was just awful: So Kairi pushed this new side of her down as best she could.

And before Kairi could get too lost in her melancholy, she saw a seagull fly overhead to land in a nearby tree: Her ears were probably playing tricks on her, but she could have sworn it was saying something akin to Sora's name, too.

Sora certainly saw it, too, if the way he was looking up at it in the way he'd looked up to see her in the Final World was any indication: Which reminded her of part of the conversation that had started all of this.

"Sora… you're a bird. Majestic and beautiful, and flying wherever the wind currents take you: Wherever the World needs you… but always back to me."

This was apparent, in how the seagull had landed on a twig in the sea… and, shockingly, was allowing itself to get a bath via the water and not in dirt for once.

The bird had found a way to be with the ocean, and so Kairi believed that Sora would do the same for her:

With this notion, she felt some of her rush fading away—as well as the feeling that any first meeting they had would be their last.

"And you're not an animal, Kairi… You're the sea: Too unrelenting—but also changing—to be held by anything else. And your namesake reaches for me, too… So, we'll be fine: A lot like another story I know, where someone fell in love with the sea and she stayed with him."

…Right. Sora had told Kairi about how Calypso was literally the ocean, and Davy Jones had fallen in love with her. It hadn't worked out for them, but it had for the similar to them Will and Elizabeth. And according to Sora, she and him had a lot in common with the latter.

These words were so something, that Kairi found a tear sliding down from her eye at them.

And oh, how she took refuge in the knowledge that this wasn't a dream she was having. And that she could clearly see Sora's face telling her this so earnestly, as the sun set behind him.

He wasn't fading away the way he had before—too many times—and how even Will had during sunsets, apparently.

Instead, Sora and Kairi stood in the sunset together—holding hands—and then giddily walked home to Kairi's house together (they'd made it to the night, and Sora was still here!) as the Island was painted navy.


End file.
